Editor’s Note: This is the final piece of a five-part series on player safety and the prevention of injuries with our area football teams.

TRENTON – Three members Jones Senior's football coaching staff are retired from the military. Their protective instincts are obvious.

By going through training and instruction, they have knowledge when it comes to safety, and in this case, player safety.

Head coach John Davis, a former Marine, served from 1979 until 2002. His duties in the Marine Corps helps him in his every day life, including as a coach of a high school football team in the scorching North Carolina summer.

“We have guys who have backgrounds in safety,” Davis said. “We have to know if something is wrong with that kid, and we have to get them out of the formation and into the shade. We look for the systems of heat stroke and heat exhaustion.”

Trojans' assistant coach Greg Hampton, a former Athletics Director at Jones Senior, is also a former Marine, and assistant Melvin Smith is retired from the Air Force.

Jones Senior High, like any other school in the state, is required to have a trainer or a first responder at each football game or practice, but for the Trojans, it helps to have three coaches with an awareness for safety.

For temperatures above 92 degrees, and a certain heat index, the Trojans take their practices into the school gymnasium.

Davis and Hampton are even discussing to bring a water sprinkler to practice for their players to cool off in.

“We want to have a mist system. We used to have it on the drill field,” Davis said. “When a kid gets hot, they just walk through the mist and it gets their body temperature down. We are going to try to get that down in the next couple weeks.”

Davis implements unlimited water breaks if a kid is feeling overheated. For the coaching staff, safety is the first priority.

“I stress plenty of water,” he said. “The water that you put in your body today affects you for tomorrow, and we make sure our kids know that.

“That safety is paramount for us.”

Over the past several seasons, the Trojans have averaged no more than 30 kids on the team.

The loss of one player could be the difference in making the postseason or not.

Last year, Trojans' quarterback and linebacker Darvoris Batts was injured for the majority of the season. Fortunately, they still won three games and made it to the second round of the 1A playoffs.

“One injury is catastrophic for us,” Davis said. “You have teams like Havelock and New Bern, and those guys, they get an injury, is doesn't hurt them as much because they have two more guys that are almost as talented as that No. 1 guy.

Page 2 of 2 - “I lose that No. 1 guy, and the difference between that No. 1 and No. 2 guy is amazing.”

The Trojans open the season against Kinston on Aug. 23, with the first official practice being held on Aug. 1.

Davis believes a healthy Jones Senior squad has a chance to win the conference.

“We are always one or two injuries away,” he said. “We could have a good team going into the season, and then go into a scrimmage and get one of my guys hurt.

“I have probably one of the toughest 1A schedules in the state, and our guys don't back down.”

Adam Thompson can be contacted at 252-635-5669 or at Adam.Thompson@newbernsj.com. Follow Adam on Twitter @Adam_matic.